Oregon Public Broadcasting

OPB

Courtesy: Inger Klekacz

OPB's Geoff Norcross talks with OPB Music's Jeremy Petersen about the five bands and albums that stood out in 2011 in the Portland music scene.

Here are Jeremy's picks:

The Decemberists – The King is Dead (Capitol)

Following their ambitious (and some would say excessive) folk-rock opera The Hazards of Love, The Decemberists pared it back to the other end of the spectrum for their sixth full-length release. Recorded in a converted barn on Happy Valley’s Pendarvis Farm, the collection found them mining alt. folk and country sounds and vintage R.E.M. on a record that also found them crossing over into mainstream audiences with a #1 spot on the billboard chart.

Watch the studio session: http://opbmusic.org/studio_sessions/the_decemberists

Ages and Ages – Alright You Restless (Partisan)

Photos by Inger Klekacz for OPB

Another first record, Alright You Restless was the debut from AgesandAges, the new project led by former Pseudosix frontman Tim Perry. Whereas his former band traveled in darker hues, AgesandAges’ music bursts forth with brightness, all handclaps and harmonies. It’s an up with people vibe in a year that didn’t have a lot of that kind of sentiment, but most importantly it’s carried along on top of melodies that are irresistible.

Watch the studio session: http://opbmusic.org/studio_sessions/agesandages

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Fat Possum)

What began as a one-man recording project anonymously posting a song to his Bandcamp page ended up being one of the surprise debuts of the year. Late of the promising but short-lived band The Mint Chicks, Ruban Neilson set about recording psychedelic basement demos for the sheer pleasure of it before they found their way into the hands of Fat Possum records. The result is a record full of bluesy, groovy lo-fi nuggets among which are also two of the biggest earworms I heard all year.

YACHT – Shangri-La (DFA)

Always more cerebral than your average electronic/dance act, YACHT ‘s fifth album overall and second to feature Claire L. Evans alongside founder Jona Bechtolt is based on the idea, the philosophy, and in this case the conceit of Utopia. Shangri-La is the record built around all of that, and a typical summing up from the band themselves generally goes something like, “The mind, we’ve discovered, is a place. And in creating our own reality within that place, we make Utopia.” Nothing wrong with that, but it’s the insistent beats and electronic warmth that make the record, not to mention the sublime chorus of the title track, which slows the pace a bit on one of the feel-good songs of the year.

Point Juncture, WA – Handsome Orders (Mt. Fuji)

The veteran Portland band with the odd name returned with their fourth album, the rightly titled Handsome Orders. Self-produced and recorded at their home studio, the band took a more bare bones approach to the production this go around, resulting in comparatively sparse moments like “When You Wake Up It’s Today,” and “Baptist Jesus.” Already one of the hallmarks of the PJWA sound, Amanda Spring and Victor Nash once again use their vocals to great effect-- at times singing the same vocal line or even better trading off as on standout track “New Drags.”

Related

All Songs Considered

http://news.opb.org/article/all_songs_considered_holiday_music_special_2011/

Ken Tucker's Top 10

http://news.opb.org/article/ken_tuckers_top_10_the_year_in_music/

The Decemberists Receive 2 Grammy Nominations

http://news.opb.org/article/decemberists-receive-2-grammy-nominations/

The Decemberists' Colin Meloy Plays Not My Job

http://news.opb.org/article/the_decemberists_colin_meloy_plays_not_my_job/

The Decemberists: Tiny Desk Concert

http://news.opb.org/article/the_decemberists_tiny_desk_concert/

Sasquatch 2011: The Decemberists, Live In Concert

http://news.opb.org/article/sasquatch_2011_the_decemberists_live_in_concert/

The Decemberists' New Album Fit For A 'King'

http://news.opb.org/article/the_decemberists_new_album_fit_for_a_king/

The Decemberists: From Rock Opera To A Band In A Barn

http://news.opb.org/article/the_decemberists_from_rock_opera_to_a_band_in_a_barn/